Are You going there again?

John 11:7-8
Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”

The disciples were genuinely concerned about the safety of their Master. We would say the same thing for the person we love too. It is easy to forget that Jesus is the Almighty, All-Knowing, All-Powerful one which the whole Universe is created by.

Today, the believer have the Holy Spirit in us who also lead us according to the will of the Father. But as humans, sometimes we think that we know better than the living God, although we meant no offence. It takes practise to train ourselves to trust God completely and obey Him, even though his direction for us seems contrary to our opinions.

The friend of the bridegroom

John 3:29
He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. 

The subject of this verse is the bridegroom - who no doubt represents Jesus. The verse starts by saying others who has a bride are bridegrooms too. On the other hand the verse also describes the friends of the bridegroom. As followers of Jesus, we are depicted as the friends of the bridegroom. The other bridegrooms take the attention or glory upon themselves. On the other hand, the friends of the bridegroom, glorifies and rejoices with the Lord. The friends point to the glorious bridegroom.

The challenge for the believers may be to deflect attention on ourselves towards the Lord. Following Yshua should result in good works and compassion for others. When others praise these good works, then the honour and glory should be deflected towards the Lord.

He must increase, but I must decrease

John 3:30
He must increase, but I must decrease

John points the way to Yshua Ha Masiach as we all must do. John the Baptist would have been at the peak of his popularity right before he introduced Jesus. People from the cities came out to the desert to be baptised by him.

However, when Jesus was baptized, that became the beginning of Jesus' public ministry and John pointed his followers directly to Jesus. Like John, we must do the same. In our compassion and mercy, we may be helping many people. Ultimately, when those people give thanks, it should be directed towards God. To accept glory for ourselves would be to steal the glory from God.

For you are still carnal

1 Corinthians 3:3
For you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Paul is speaking to fellow believers in this message about being carnal. To provide a brief definition, being carnal means to be influenced or acting or desiring the things of this world, which are usually in opposition to God's will.

The opposite to living a carnal life would be to live and walk in the Spirit. Since none of the believers are perfect while living on earth, there will be times when the carnal nature has its way. If so, then the believer who walks in the Spirit would admit and confess their sins and allow God to deal with that sin. To rationalise away the sin or wrongdoing only leads to a deeper carnal life.

Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road and while He opened the Scriptures to us?

Luke 24:32
And they said to one another, “Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?”

Often when we hear an inspiring sermon and / or when gripped by the Holy Spirit to receive the message, we feel extremely powerful, like we have been fully charged again. These experiences however, or the situation itself, will not last long; a good sermon cannot continue forever - it will have an end.

So the challenge is then to apply the spiritual insights into our daily life and ministry to others. Most of the time, life goes on with routine tasks. However it is such times that those spiritual insights can be used effectively for our benefits or the benefits of others.

I have been crucified with Christ

Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

When Paul made the statement that he has been crucified with Christ, he was not physically crucified yet at that point in time, though he would faced a similar fate later. Yet what Paul said was for than just identifying with Christ in suffering. It was a reality to him, that he lived a life of persecution by others, as well as crucifying his own sinful nature.

It is perhaps more of the second point of crucifying oneself that we can take for ourselves. There is a battle between our old selves which is carnal in nature, aiming to satisfy our own needs with no regards to God. On the opposite, there is the will to surrender ourselves with God. Only by deliberately crucifying our sinful nature can we fully surrender to the will of God.

Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...?

Genesis 18:17
And the Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing...?" 

In more than one passage, God has revealed His plans to those people whom He calls friends, that is those people who are close to Him. These include Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus' disciples and many more. None of these are perfect people. Which means we all can come to the point that we can hear from God and that He will reveal His plans to us. Now the reason to come to know God well is not just to learn about the future or His plans - He knows our intentions. The only focus we should have is keep walking closely with Him and listen.